Stephen Tobolowsky

Let's go to the source: Is the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day a cult film? "They say it's a cult film, and I correct them," says Stephen Tobolowsky, who plays the overly friendly Ned Ryerson (the guy whom Bill Murray punches but later befriends). "It's not a cult film anymore. Now it is a classic film. On television here in L.A., it's on every February 2nd. It's the new Wizard of Oz." With his podcast/radio show The Tobolowsky Files heard on KUOW, the veteran actor has become a regular visitor to Seattle, and tonight he'll conduct a Q&A about the making of Groundhog Day. Of seeing himself in that film, he says, "It's a strange experience. You get transported back to when you were in that space when you were working on it. But I'm always happy to see it. First and foremost, what a phenomenal script. Kudos to Danny Rubin. I think it's one of the most underrated jobs of comedic direction by Harold Ramis." Then there's Murray—"one of the great comic performances of all time." In a karmic comedy about the endless repetition of a single day, Tobolowsky recalls, "I'd never been involved with a movie like this ever before. Ramis … said we'd shoot the movie over and over and over again! Nobody had a day off. Nobody had a moment off. We were always on what you call 'will-notify.' This was before the day of cell phones. Everybody had to be on their toes. It created a sense that everybody was on guard. You always had to be in performance mode. We were ready for action." Tobolowsky sounds considerably more relaxed on the audio version of his droll new memoir The Dangerous Animals Club ($7.49 on Amazon's audible.com), and tonight he'll also be signing copies of the hardbound edition. BRIAN MILLER